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CLP Group (its holding company is CLP Holdings Ltd) is an electricity company in Hong Kong with businesses in a number of Asian markets and Australia. Incorporated in 1901 as China Light & Power Company Syndicate, its core business remains electricity generation, transmission, and retailing.

News›Hong Kong

ENERGY

CLP Power to discuss areas to improve during interim review

Power firm will consult with the government during interim review of its regulations, but urges against fixing something that isn't broken

CLP Power will discuss with the government during the upcoming interim review of its regulatory regime this year areas in which the power firm can improve, it said yesterday.

The comment came after Environment Secretary Wong Kam-sing said yesterday that a balance has to be struck between power tariffs and environment issues, vowing to "make appropriate changes" to the Scheme of Control, which lays down the rules regulating the city's two power firms, CLP Power and Hongkong Electric.

Richard Lancaster, CLP's managing director, said the interim review should take into account the Scheme of Control's objectives, which include the provision of safe, reliable power at the lowest reasonable rates and an obligation to meet environmental targets.

The exercise would also have to balance various parties' interests, including the power company's ability to raise enough capital to finance its infrastructure projects, he said.

"Changing the Scheme of Control might affect other areas, and it would be a mistake to change the arrangement that works quite well at the moment," he said.

Lancaster also disclosed details about the recent government-approved 20-year deal to source natural gas from Central Asia through the 9,000-kilometre West-East Gas Pipeline II built by PetroChina.

He said that based on the deal, half of the gas price - which ranges between US$18 and US$20 per unit - reflects the commodity cost. A third of the price accounts for PetroChina's transportation costs while the rest accounts for import duties and administration costs charged by the mainland authority.

Lancaster also revealed that about 40 to 50 per cent of the gas CLP will burn this year will come from the pipe, a third from the depleting Yacheng reserve, and the rest from a new gas field near Yacheng, where the commodity will cost three times the price of gas obtained from the old reserve.

He added that the mainland supply was the "best option" to feed Hong Kong's energy demands.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as Clp to discuss areas to improve